News & Views
IT'S OFFICIAL! NEW ALBUM RELEASED ON FRI. 6/28/24!
"CATCH & KEEP" is at long last out in the world -
SO PROUD & EXCITED TO SHOW THIS MUSIC OFF!
It's now available at Bandcamp.com
as a digital download & physical CD, and streaming through Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music & all the usual outlets.
Big huge thanks to my dear crowdfunders & to
Peter Eldridge (producer/arr/piano/add'l vox),
Jesse Lewis (guitars),
Matt Aronoff (basses),
Jared Schonig (drums/perc),
Elliot Roth (add'l piano/vox),
the best engineer MP Kuo,
& guest players Darmon Meader (saxes), Nadje Noordhuis (trumpet/flugelhorn), and Ben Wittman on percussion, plus Ben did a fantastic job mastering the project!
On the radio...
Thanks to these swell folk for the early airplay:
Linda Yohn at WRCJ 90.9 FM in Detroit, MI
Mary Foster Conklin at "A Broad Spectrum" WFDU-FM KKUP Cupertino/San Jose CA 91.5.FM JaZzLine Sessions KCSM Jazz 91 San Mateo CA "The Bay Area's Jazz Station" The Jazz Oasis with Pete Fallico
Jack Frieden at Vocal Sound of Jazz WHRV-FM 89.5 Norfolk, VA & streaming at WHRO.org
David Kenney, WBAI 99.5 FM New York
WFWM Frostburg MD
WVIA Pittston PA
WECS Willimantic CT
KBEM Jazz88.5 The Morning Show - Minneapolis MN
All these folks are putting up great weekly shows - hope you'll check out their programs!
For album press inquiries, please contact
Holly Cooper, Mouthpiece Music
SAVE THE DATE - 8/26/24 @7pm - better yet, click below & get your tix right now!
TICKETS ON SALE NOW - CLICK HERE!
The record release celebration will be a live show UPSTAIRS AT BIRDLAND on Monday 8/26 at 7pm!
Expect a killer band & a few surprises.
Karen Mack vocals
Peter Eldridge piano/vox
Pete McCann guitars
Matt Aronoff bass
Mark McLean drums/perc
Very special guests -
Darmon Meader & Elliot Roth
Doors 5:30pm, advance tickets a must!
This'll be my debut as a headliner on this historic bandstand! That I get to share it with these awesome musicians & all of you is the cherry on the cake.
Thanks again to everyone visiting here & socials for supporting & elevating independent music.
Grateful grateful. Really does take a village.
2024 BISTRO AWARD WIN!
This year kicked off with a lovely honor from Gerry Geddes, Sherry Eaker, and Mark Dundas Wood recognizing my work with a 2024 Bistro Award for Variety in Performance.
The Bistros are a widely respected press-driven award, sponsored in part by ASCAP, and each year the categories are specific to work they've found outstanding. To receive one for excellence in variety and versatility is the highest compliment I could ask for, given how many creative hats I wear and that my musical life lives in many worlds.
The Awards ceremony was a live show where all the winners performed, including Julie Gold, Maud Hixson, Tony Yazbeck, Amber Gray and Robert Klein (and me.)
To say it's a starry list of honorees is putting it mildly - winners in prior years include Gabrielle Stravelli, Mark Winkler, Tawanda, and The Royal Bopsters - such high end company I'm in!
More pix & coverage at https://bistroaward.com
Might even be video soon - stay tuned!
ELLIOT & KAREN "TWOFERS" WILL BACK IN SEPTEMBER!
Our monthly hit is on a short summer hiatus, but then we'll pick right back up!
Two sets in Pangea's front lounge
from 8:30pm to 10:30pm
and the kitchen is open until 10pm
Deep thanks to BistroAwards.com for this nice write-up of us at Pangea NYC - read the review here
and
Thank you BroadwayWorld.com too for the nomination as Best NYC Duo Show 2022!
Honor to be recognized!
Vue180 Rooftop Bar is back!
Vue180's Rooftop Music Series is back, with good vibes & great views for your summer Saturdays!
Saturday 7/27 from 8pm to 11pm
atop the Doubletree Hilton
525 Eighth Ave. NYC (btw 36th & 37th Sts.)
Join singer/songwriter Paul Brubaker & me for a pop-up guitar night that's the belated co-bill that never was. Glad to see you again, 2002 - pull up a chair!
Covers, originals, drinks & snacks
no music charge, no minimum
Plenty of guilty pleasure tunes & dated references
More info in gig section below.
THANK YOU PTOWN!
Elliot Roth & I had a blast playing the Crown & Anchor with our Live at the Sands set.
Thanks Patricia Fitzpatrick, the beyond generous Gabriel's Provincetown Hotel & everyone at the Provincetown Cabfest - a creative Cape tradition still going loud, proud, and strong! It was an honor to be in the mix again this year.
Extra thanks to everyone in our "Read the Room!" workshop, too - great work & we can't wait to see what & where you're singing next.
Very nice article at Nitelife Exchange by Boston writer John Amodeo on the backstory of the festival & reviews of this year's shows, including some very kind words about ours!
NEXT YEAR'S THEME - THE MUSIC OF KANDER & EBB
We'll be back with a masterclass & plenty of swing!
I will def wear more sunscreen. IYKYK.
And watch here & socials for possible E&k pop-ins this summer and fall at Ptown fave Tin Pan Alley - more news on that as we get it.
Some of this, some of that...
This site features info on my solo & producing mack-inations, and shout-outs on events with talented pals you should know about. For what's up with my vocal group Those Girls (2023 MAC winners Best Vocal Duo/Group) visit ThoseGirlsSing.com. AND I get to make some jazz-based noise on a regular basis with the crazy talented Elliot Roth - check out his site theelliotroth.com & our gig info will always be in the Next Gigs section below.
Be Inspired By Everything
"There are no bad ideas - just good ideas that went horribly wrong." - Abe Lincoln (or maybe Ghandi or Academy Award winner Brendan Fraser...)
"Stress cannot exist in the presence of a pie.”
- D. Mamet
(that one's really true.)
The power of kindness...
"CATCH & KEEP" was a long-time dream for me, both in the material & in the beautiful collaborations. It would not have happened without the generosity & encouragement of these fine folks who were willing to jump in early with extra support that helped in so many ways.
I am forever grateful.
Bunny Rosenthal, Scott Ihrig, LRF, Richard & Diane Finkelstein, The Abrahams, The Millers, Lydia Rentel, Bonnie Benedek, Bob Diamond & Raymond Renault, Maureen Powell, Susan Mack, Michael Holland, Courtney Knowles, Sarah Carson, Ellen Auwarter, Leslie Williams Ellis, Sue & Pete Jacques, Bret Shuford, Dan Spiess, Julia Douglass, Marge Helenchild, The Schreiers, Robin Novello, Eric Bernat, Rachel Hanser, Jeff Harnar, Elliot Roth, Rosemary Loar, Alexis Cole, Gabrielle Stravelli, Nicole Zuraitis, Greta Metassa, Mark Winkler, Ray DeForest, Helen Glassman, Sidney Myer, Liz Warner, Chris Howatt, Natalie Douglas, Jackie Draper, Sue Matsuki, Maria Corsaro, Lisa Yaeger, Tracy Stark, Deian McBryde, Jackie Fornatale, Gretchen Reinhagen, John Cook, Collette Ryder, Maria Gentile, Peggy Schwartz, Natalie Tincher, Kristian Korsgaard & Eric Pickering, Myrna Triestman, The Sosnows, Alex De Suze, Becky Goldstein, Goldie Dver, Dawn Derow, Meg Flather, Bobby Belfry, Bob Sembiante, Fenton Gray, Kathleen Deady, Kim Grogg Marin, Barbara Fasano, Christy Trapp, Michelle Mailhot, Billy Janiszewski, Lucille Carr-Kaffashan, Josephine Sanges, Lynda Rodelitz, Chad Shank, Amorika Amoroso, Linda Kahn, Camille Diamond, Ellen Aqua Hart, Danny Bacher, Maria Gentile, Rian Keating, and Deborah Stone
and everyone who gave to our Indiegogo campaign at all levels - every single dollar built this dream. THANK YOU!
Bio
So... what would you like to know?
Karen Mack is a multi-award winning singer/songwriter based in NYC, with creative roots planted in jazz, folk, pop, and swing. Over the last twenty years, she's established herself as a popular favorite of audiences and critics alike in many of New York City's top clubs and performance spaces. Her varied musical influences are apparent in her style, which meshes a warm jazz/folk sensibility with an affinity for richly textured vocal harmony, wordplay and improvisation, creating a truly unique listening experience, whether you're looking for moving ballads, soulful blues, or fierce in-the-pocket swing. LGNY says “in addition to her sense of humor, she has the kind of voice one longs to hear…her flawless placement, appealing style and dead-on performance are electrifying!”
Her new solo album with producer/arranger Peter Eldridge from the internationally acclaimed vocal group New York Voices, dropped June 28th, 2024, and features Matt Aronoff (bass), Peter Eldridge (piano), Jesse Lewis (guitar), Jared Schonig (drums), Ben Wittman (percussion), and guest appearances by Darmon Meader, Nadje Noordhuis, and Elliot Roth. "Catch & Keep" is a fun mix of contemporary jazz classics, including works by Dave Frishberg, Bob Dorough, Nellie McKay and Betty Bryant, alongside originals that speak to how we hold onto things and how we let go, in ways from playful to profound.
For years, Peter Eldridge has been at the forefront of both the jazz and the singer/songwriter realms as a vocalist, pianist, composer, and arranger, with a slew of critically-praised albums of his own and with NYV, including two Grammy-Award winning projects with Paquito D'Rivera and The Count Basie Orchestra. While Peter and Karen have a decades long friendship as writers and musicians, "Catch & Keep" marks the first commercial collaboration for the pair, and even in its first weeks, the album is already garnering strong praise and national airplay.
Karen made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2019, and her Jazz at Lincoln Center debut in 2022 with the award-winning vocal quartet Those Girls. She was part of the 25th Anniversary Gala for the NY Pops, Handel’s “Messiah Rocks - A Joyful Noise” at NJPAC, and featured in the UK premier of “Build Me A Bridge - The Music of Miller and Hammonds” at the Bridewell Theater in London’s West End. Club appearances include New York's Town Hall, Symphony Space, Birdland, Feinsteins/54 Below, B.B. King's, Nashville Jazz Cave, Parker's in Austin, The Bottom Line, Caroline’s, Sony Hall, Pangea, The Bitter End, Tula's Jazz in Seattle, London's Battersea Barge, and numerous college keggers. Currently, she can been seen in tandem with New York Times hailed jazz pianist/vocalist Elliot Roth monthly in their jazz/swing residency at Pangea (NYC), now in its third year.
As a songwriter, she was acknowledged for her debut recording "Take That" (Miss Prim Records) in a cover story by Show Business Weekly on promising writers on the rise, in prestigious, well-established company that included Julie Gold (From A Distance), Amanda McBroom (The Rose), and John Bucchino (Grateful). She is a 2024 Bistro Award winner for Variety in Cabaret Performance, an eleven-time MAC Award winner for vocal performance and songwriting, as well as for her current vocal harmony work in NYC pop vocal group Those Girls (thosegirlssing.com), and for 12+ years prior with talented singer/songwriter Michael Holland as half of the pro vocal duo that brought the acclaimed & ridiculous retropop series “Hole-O-Matic!” to the world.
Always drawn to rich and complex vocal harmony, Karen was a performing member and co-managing partner of DOO-WA-ZOO, a five-part contemporary a cappella group with a pop/rock repertoire of original compositions and creative covers back before Pentatonix ruled the aca-earth. Featured on the nationally broadcast VH1 special "Takin' It to the Streets", the vocal band headlined at major venues on the east coast such as The Bottom Line, The Bitter End, The Ironhorse, New England Conservatory, Princeton University, Penn State University, and the 92nd St. Y, NYC. All members of the group were contributing writers and arrangers. Their independently produced EP "Onomatopoeia" is considered among the best in contemporary a cappella by TAXI Independent A&R (LA), as well as the Contemporary A Cappella Society of America (CASA), and continues to enjoy national and international airplay.
And if you don't care so much about music, but are into quality baked goods, be sure to friend her on FB before October when her daily baking and posting for National Cookie Month begins (yes, that's a real thing... yes, she bakes a different cookie every single day & posts sometimes great/sometimes wobbly pix on social media... seriously.)
Press
"In addition to her sense of humor, she has the kind of voice one longs to hear... her flawless placement, appealing style and dead on performance are electrifying... she'll give you chills she's that good!" - C. Byrne, LGNY
RE: New Album "Catch & Keep":
"Riffing off the album’s unique title, jazz vocal fans will want to catch and keep this album, and hopefully many more by the incredible Karen Mack.... beautiful, gently soulful vocals, exciting swing tunes and overall freewheeling magic... formidable songwriting prowess... it’s to her and (Peter) Eldridge’s credit that they venture way outside the box for a batch of tunes that are mostly so obscure that they sound like new compositions... her splendid and percussively exotic twist on Basia’s “From Now On” combines Mack’s breezy voice with the simmering energy of her ensemble...a hip showcase for Mack’s witty phrasing!" - J. Widran, The JW Vibe
“Mack has a bright, crystal-clear vocal style and a relaxed delivery that sells her songs. Her ability to sing everything from the Great American Songbook to contemporary jazz and pop/rock shines on this project. Her voice and repertoire are both appealing and entertaining. Mack’s opening tune clearly establishes that this vocalist can swing... on her original song called “Hurry Up and Wait" [co-written with P Eldridge] Karen Mack swings free and easy with catchy lyrics and an impressive saxophone solo by Darmon Meader ...this is a very well-written song and quickly becomes another favorite from Karen Mack’s sophomore album. ” - D. McNeil, Wonderful Women In Jazz /Jazz Journalists Assoc.
RE: Karen Mack/Elliot Roth Duo:
"They are both seasoned pros... they offer a smart, sophisticated, intriguing collection of songs with Roth’s superb piano underscoring his and Mack’s smooth, supple, beautifully phrased vocals offering lucky diners and drinkers a superb evening of entertainment. Warm and witty, with nothing forced or trite... they are so in tune they seem sometimes to finish each other’s sentences and thoughts... intertwining solos, duets and a well-chosen medley or two. Their song list includes pop, originals (Mack has long been lauded as a fine songwriter), standards, and a healthy seasoning of bossa, which pleased me no end. If you are there for the first set, you are likely to stay for the second. I would have gladly stayed for a third and a fourth set by the marvelous Karen Mack and Elliot Roth." - Gerry Geddes, Bistroawards.com
"Both accomplished vocalists, Elliot and Karen show particular skill with their duets... the winsome twosome are the boy-girl act that everyone has been waiting for... and with their friendly, laid back connection to the crowd, to say nothing of Roth's inventive arrangements, it wouldn't surprise this reporter if their monthly residency will be upgraded to more than once a month!" - S. Mosher, BroadwayWorld.com
"...kindred spirits, they are a likable pair, complementing each other and gracious. They are clearly at ease with one another and at ease with different musical styles. With Roth's prodigious piano skills and the stylish singing of both, the clear-voiced twosome are a clear choice for a nice downtown hang!”" - R.Lester, BroadwayWorld.com
"Mack’s honeyed vocals add a lovely patina to any song... utterly swoon inducing. Roth, whose jazz vocals evoke the smoky sounds of Mark Murphy or Kurt Elling, also elicited sighs during Sinatra’s “Please Be Kind” and especially on “As the Water Loves the Stone,” a gem he plucked from Adam Guettel’s recently closed “Days of Wine and Roses.” As good as these two are individually, they are dynamite together, combining and complementing each other’s strengths to delicious effect, as when they launched into “Surrey with the Fringe on Top” at breakneck speed with an incredible vocal dexterity that had us in awe. A word on Roth’s piano playing: this is some of the best playing around, from his lush underscoring to his sizzling arrangements... as entertaining as it was unique." - J Amodeo, NiteLife Exchange
RE: Karen Mack solo gigs:
"I'll say it up front: Do not miss this show! Mack's voice has a precision and purity of tone that's nothing short of stunning... It's a satisfying breath of fresh musical air.”
John Michael Koroly - Whitney Radio/WVOX
"A respected songwriter and solo artist with a background in a variety of genres, so one can always expect a surprise when Karen Mack walks in the room... something designed to make others feel good and to make others smile!" - S. Mosher, BroadwayWorld.com
"Like bolt lightning, she electrified the stage from opening to encore... she sounds like a combination of Linda Ronstadt and Stevie Nicks - the perfect vocal instrument for jazz, rock, country, and all points in between. Can this gal sing!"
J. Hoglund - Backstage
"It's a sound you want to hear fronting a first-rate band, and that's just what she's got behind her... Mack can knock anything with a beat out of the ballpark... Besides being naturally funny, she's so generous she passed out song sheets that supply songwriters' names and their websites."
D. Finkle - The Village Voice
"A sterling instrument! She has unerring good taste in her musical choices and wisely lets the lyric speak for her in simple and understated interpretations.”
David Hurst, Show Business
”Mack's voice is a thing of beauty with a rich, lush, inviting tone that somehow works equally well belting rock standards or performing the most frivolous of the era's love ballads.” Mona Finston - Cab Hotline
Take That
$20.00
My first CD produced by the ever awesome Michael Holland back when I fancied myself an eclectic acoustic rock star (also avail. digitally at iTunes, but from me you get old school "hold it in your hand" and maybe a surprise or two.)
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